Bringing out the best in female hockey players

Coach takes a new approach to training girls' team

When my daughter’s hockey coach handed out journals and pens at her Atom B team’s first practice this year, I couldn’t be happier.
I saw the hockey season journal as a bonus opportunity to build on her literacy skills. But her coach Rob Rye was clear--it was aimed at much more than that.
“For girls’ accomplishments to truly be recognized and believed, they need to see it in writing for themselves. Writing it down in their journal is simply positive reinforcement,” said Rye, a coach with the Whitby Girls Hockey Association.
He got the journal idea from Kim McCullough, a Toronto-based female hockey expert who he saw at a pre-season workshop.
Written reflection and goal-setting helps address the most frequently asked questions she gets from parents and coaches: How do I help my daughter be more confident and how do I make sure my team is focused before the game?
“(The journal) gives them a specific focus on the ice for that day and allows them to reflect after the practice or game and see whether they were able to meet their goal for that day,” said McCullough.
“This increases their individual accountability and will allow them to see where their true strengths and weaknesses are over the course of the season.”
When it comes to comparing female players and their male counterparts, there are big differences on the physical side of things, but even more on the psychological side, she said.
By far, the biggest difference is that girls are notoriously “under-confident” in their abilities.
“They tend to down-play their accomplishments and focus on the one small mistake that they made in the game instead of the 15 things they did well,” said McCullough.
Girls’ hockey is also a much more social sport than the boys’ game in that girls are often scared of being singled out from the rest of the team, even if it is for doing something well, she adds.
So worried about making a mistake and upsetting the coach, girls tend to focus on doing practice drills perfectly--but to a fault. They lose the ability to think outside the box.
“The ability to be creative within the context of a drill and game is something that is essential to getting to the next level,” said McCullough, who has worked with both the provincial and national women’s hockey team programs as a strength and conditioning coach. A former captain of Dartmouth College (NCAA) women’s hockey team, she is currently the Girls Hockey Director at the PEAC School for Elite Athletes in Toronto.
On the physical side, the exercises and training concepts McCullough uses on and off the ice with girls and boys are virtually identical. However, she emphasizes different aspects of training for girls.
For example, girl hockey players have a much harder time getting low and staying low on the ice compared to boys. This has to do with their physiology. But it can be overcome with proper training, said McCullough.
“It is often said that the best skaters in the female game “skate like boys”. So to help girls get low and stay low, I focus on more single-leg strength and balance training.”
This is a challenge too because girls tend to equate strength training with looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Every aspiring male hockey player wants to be 6’2” and 220 pounds, but most girls don’t want to get bigger muscles because they don’t think it’s feminine,” she said. “The reality is that they will have to build muscle if they want to compete at the elite level - but they don’t need to look like, or train like, bodybuilders.”
Coach Rye, whose son, like his daughter, plays competitive hockey, said while he agrees that as a male it can be difficult to get into a girl’s mindset, he’s learned much just by keeping the lines of communication open with players and their parents.
“You don’t truly understand kids’ hockey until you realize that it’s more about the off-ice product than the on-ice,” said Rye.
“We want the girls to know it’s okay to be good, it’s okay to stand out and if they start to doubt themselves they only need to open up their journal and read it out loud.”

Hockey expert’s tips for building better athletes:
1. Drink more water! Most athletes are chronically dehydrated. Encourage your child to always carry a water bottle with them at all times and to refill it consistently throughout the day. As soon as you are dehydrated (the first sign of this is that you are thirsty), your performance decreases 10-15%!

2. Showcase Your Strengths! When it comes to standing out and performing well at tryouts or big games in tournaments or playoffs, athletes often get worried about all the things they don’t do well. Encourage them to focus on showcasing the things that they are already good at instead.

3. Be Strong With Your Bodyweight! Young athletes need to be strong with controlling their own body-weight before they ever pick up a weight. Basic exercises like push-ups, squats, chin-ups and lunges are critical to an athlete’s development.

4. Remember That School Comes Before Sports. This is hard to do as our extra-curricular schedules become more and more busy. But continue to emphasize that doing well academically should be a pre-requisite for playing sports. School is essential - sports are a privilege.

5. Play More! Sports have become so structured. Head out to the park and just go play with your child. It’s amazing what kinds of games and activities kids will come up with if you just let them go outside and play. This is where many young athletes develop their skills and confidence.

For more information check out Kim McCullough’s Website: www.totalfemalehockey.com